western provinces. He had come to know of all these things before he left Purandarpur, and so he had already sent Shaibalini towards Monghyr.
Foster overtook Shaibalini in the way, and reached Monghyr with her and the boat carrying arms. He took leave of Amyatt after he had an interview with him. But just at that time, the boat loaded with arms was arrested under Gurgan Khan's orders. This gave rise to a controversy between Amyatt and the Nawab. One day, Amyatt and Foster decided that if the Nawab would let off the boat so much the better, or Foster would leave for Patna without it, the next morning.
Foster's two boats were lying fastened at the Monghyr Ghat. One of them was a country cargo boat—very big in size; the other was a Budgrow. On the cargo boat, some soldiers of the Nawab were on watch. There were also a few more of them on the bank. This boat was loaded with arms, and it was what Gurgan Khan meant to arrest.
The Budgrow contained no arms in it. It was lying some fifty cubits off the cargo boat. There was no sentinel of the Nawab on it. On its top, there was on watch, a Telinga sepoy of the English.
It was then past midnight. The night was dark
83
